Page 20 - June2018

SpecialReport

Railways is the lifeline of the country.
About 23 million passengers use the
services of Railways every day. One of
the most important services is Tatkal
booking, which allows people to book
tickets for immediate travelling. The
government launched Rail Connect
app last year to ensure Tatakal booking
in less than a minute. Moreover, Tat-
kal booking timings were changed to
facilitate hassle-free booking by reduc-
ing the load on the server.
A joint report by World Bank and The Congress an increase in the tax base. In the last
PwC said that the reforms in the area four years, there has been a substan-
of paying taxes in 2016 made data describes the four tial increase in the number of returns
gathering increasingly automated. The years of the NDA filed and the amount of tax collected.
IT Department started using modern According to the income tax depart-
enterprise resource planning (ERP) government as ment, while 37.9 million ITRs were filed
software to make the process automat- that of ‘treachery, in FY14, 68.4 million ITRs were filed in
ed. With the introduction of electronic FY18, an increase of 80.5%.
payments of state insurance contribu- trickery, revenge Reforms undertaken by the gov-
tions and social security contributions, ernment focus on creating better in-
the time required to comply with tax and lies’ frastructure, streamlining economic
liabilities came down significantly. activity and simplifying transactions,
Ease of transaction greatly improved the impact of which will percolate to
with the launch of mobile wallets and individuals in times to come. But the
ultimately the Unified Payments Inter- gevity of citizens of India as it will make reforms have not yet created progres-
face or UPI, which was launched just medical care affordable and accessible, sively more jobs and there are few signs
months before demonetisation. UPI its biggest boon will be an upliftment of that black money has been brought
allows a user to transfer money from the medical infrastructure in rural as back into the system or redistributed.
one bank account to another instantly well as urban areas. Concerns remain on the job creation
using a cellphone and is set to trump One of the big steps forward for front and curbing of black money. The
the popularity of e-wallets that shot better order in the real estate market direction is right, but the journey has
to fame right after demonetisation. was the Real Estate (Regulation and been bumpy.
E-wallets allow you to make payments Development) Act (RERA). On 1 May
without using internet banking, but the 2016, the sector got its first regulator. Modi mania
wallet itself needs to be loaded first. RERA focuses on transparency and The BJP is now ruling alone or with
According to data updated on Prad- safeguarding home buyers’ interest allies — Jammu and Kashmir, Jhar-
han Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana’s website, by curbing the rampant practice of khand, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Ma-
there are about 316 million beneficiar- siphoning off funds from one project harashtra, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh,
ies with deposits of around 81,203.59 to another by the developers leading to Gujarat, Chha ttisgarh, Bihar, Rajasthan,
crore. If Jan Dhan got the economy construction delays. But the dampener Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur,
banked, insurance through the Prad- has been in implementation. Even after Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and
han Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana two years, many states have not imple- Himachal Pradesh.
(life insurance) and Pradhan Mantri mented the Act completely, which is One often claimed reason is the rise
Suraksha Bima Yojana (accident insur- affecting homebuyers’ confidence and of BJP under the charismatic leadership
ance) have given financial comfort at expectation. of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. From
rock bottom prices. The implementation of goods and Kashmir to Arunachal to Karnataka and
The big bang reform has been the services tax (GST) is yet another move Gujarat, the saffron party has spread
announcement of the National Health to increase transparency. GST collapses its footprints in most of the states of
Protection Scheme which has the many taxes into one tax and the idea the country, while the Congress has
potential to reform the health industry. is to reduce the tax burden and also effectively shrunk to three — Punjab,
The insurance cover of 5 lakh is more increase compliance. This is a step to- Puducherry, and Mizoram .
than what an average individual buys. wards formalising the economy and a
The scheme will not only increase lon- result of efforts such as these has been letters@tehelka.com

tehelka / 15 june 2018 20 www.tehelka.com

18-20 Special Report Hiteshi.indd 4 04/06/18 12:27 PM